All Of It, All At Once

There was still an hour before I had to be at my first meeting for the day. The morning was beautiful, promising to be one of the nicest days of the year. I had to go outside. I didn’t know the area, but my phone told me there was a park in a nearby town I’d never been to. A few minutes later, I pulled in next to the jogger and dog-walker sedans—the family cars hadn’t arrived yet. The park was extensive. It was build around a lake, with ancient trees and well-maintained lawns, meandering paths, benches, swans, and the dawn chorus echoing in stereo surround-sound all around me. 

The sun was warm, without being overbearing. The breeze was light and cool. The people on the paths gave me friendly greetings as they passed. Their dogs were thrilled to be out exploring the world, and I understood the enthusiasm and the stopping to sniff the grass and trees before their owners tugged them forward. I found myself wishing I could stop and wonder at each individual beauty before the clock tugged me forward. The cooing dove, for example, or the rhododendron flowers, the ancient yew tree, the water, or the way the light filtered through the leaves, the ivy, or the variety of plants in the forest—each of them unique and deserving of attention and contemplation but I only had an hour and I wanted to make it all the way around the lake, so I had to keep moving, gathering everything I could take into every sense as I went. 

I made it around in less than the hour, and had no intention of being early to the meeting. I spent the remaining minutes on a bench built around an oak tree gnarled with time, more time than I could imagine. My eyes and my heart and soul were full to the brim, full of all that I gathered along the way. It wasn’t any one particular thing that filled them—the warm sun or the living green or the squirrel that snuck up behind me—it was all of it, all at once. Every detail I saw was exquisite, yet none of them existed alone. Each one sang the praises of its Creator in its own unique way, and I wanted to hear every individual part, but as I sat on the bench for those few minutes I simply let myself be overwhelmed by the combination—the chorus of all creation, all around me, all together, all at once, declaring the wonders of God.